Flames to Inferno
by iminlovewiththethought
Summary: Leo Valdez let his guard down and laughed like he used to, he soon realizes that this was the worst mistake he ever made. Will our repair boy still be our repair boy? Or will his controlled flames morph into an out-of-control inferno?
1. Chapter 1

Leo paced the deck, they had 9 more days until the solstice and they weren't even close to Greece's shores yet. Currently, they were docked at a small harbor off the Spanish coats. Why they had needed to stop there? Leo didn't particularly care. Everyone was off the ship at the moment, Piper had dubbed it "official date night." This automatically meant that Leo wasn't invited. This in itself didn't matter much to Leo, he wasn't too focused on his love life, and they were in the middle of a war for Christ's sake! However, the idea of all his friends off boat without him, not even bothering to ask him if he would be alright alone on the ship at night. He had already done rounds, chatted with Festus for a while, and made 3 different contraptions that ultimately contributed nothing to their quest. Leo was restless, leaving a teenaged demigod with ADHD alone with no particular task was not ever a good idea. Leo paced back and forth a couple more times before making a final decision and leaving the ship.

It was evening in Spain, and the sun was setting. Leo walked aimlessly through the cobblestone streets, slowing down every once in a while to look into a shop window or café. The streets were oddly deserted, and, taking this into account, Leo lit his fingertips alight and watched the flame dance across his palm. The golden flames leaped and twirled in a mesmerizing waltz. They would twist and morph into almost-shapes, Leo could occasionally recognize a horse, maybe a human figure, but they would flicker and change before a distinct image would ever appear. His brown eyes glowed, flames dancing across his irises. Walking through the Spanish streets, he felt at peace. Of course, that didn't last long.

So focused on his fire, he hadn't noticed that he had wandered away from the town, and was now in a large field. Small bursts of brightly colored flowers sprouted here and there. He turned to see the village in the distance, the sun setting behind the building silhouetted, the old village. The sight was beautiful enough to take his breath away. Alone except for the wind, Leo let his flames spread from his hand down his arm, slowly engulfing his shoulder, spreading across his torso and down his other arm. The flames slowly licked down his body, until he was wreathed in fire. He let the flames engulf his head, he could feel the flames dancing though his curly hair. He let himself grin, a proper smile, unlike the fake trickster smile he always used around the rest of the seven. Laughter bubbled from deep in his chest, and soon he found himself laughing and twirling, flames shot from his body in intricate spirals, He willed the flame spirals higher and higher, they looked like fireworks. He remembered fondly going with his mama to see the fireworks his neighborhood set off every Fourth of July. His mama would hold him tightly to her chest, and tell wild stories of celebrations she had seen years previous. He would just laugh and clap with every burst. However, this time, remembering his mama didn't bring him sorrow, he smiled at the memory of her instead. He was abruptly jolted out of his reminiscing by the ground beneath his feet softening. His fire went out suddenly went out as his head whipped towards his already submerged feet. He struggled to take a step, to get the hell away from the Earth's tight grip, but it was no use. He found himself dragged quicker and quicker, he tried to yell, but no sounds came from his mouth. His lungs were being crushed, it hurt like hell, his mouth opened in a silent scream. Heavy mud closed around his legs, his thigh muscles contracted painfully against the enveloping earth. Leo knew that this was Gaea, he just wished he hadn't been so stupid as to go off on his own without any sort of backup. The last thing he saw was the sun setting before the darkness took him.

His eyelids felt heavy, his head was pounding, and his legs felt as though he was being slowly crushed by a truck. He opened his eyes and took in the scene around him. He seemed to be in some sort of cave, but it was too d ark too see much else. He attempted to light his hand on fire, but only managed a dim orange flame, much like the light of a candle. His mouth tasted funny, coppery, he spat on the dirt next to and to his horror, a dull red glob of blood came out. He quickly used his dirty white sleeve to wipe his mouth, and decided that he needed to get back to the Argo II as quick as possible. He looked at his legs, they were below what looked like 15 large rocks. He tried to push them away to no avail, they weren't moving. Suddenly, the ground around him shook.

" _Welcome to my domain young hero."_

"Gaea…" Leo growled, "where am I, what is this?" He questioned.

" _Relax young hero, I have not brought you here for any pain, instead I have a proposition for you."_

Leo tensed, a proposition? What was that supposed to mean? The vision in his left eye had started to go blurry, and he quickly wiped away the offending substance, only to withdraw his hand, covered in sticky red blood. He gasped before taking a deep breath, and responding.

"I don't want to make any sort of proposition with the woman that killed my mom, so if you'll excuse me I should be going now, got a ship to captain and all that." He joked, meanwhile trying once again to push the rocks off of his legs, which had become numb.

" _Now, now young hero, you're going to listen, actually I suppose you're going to watch…"_ she trailed off mysteriously. Before Leo could verbally question her yet again, he felt his vision going blurry once again, as he was jerked into a vision.

A tall woman, shrouded in black. She had white hair, long and shining, as pure as moonlight. She wore black robes, and had a black hood, hiding her face in shadows. She was beautiful, but Leo could feel the power radiating off of her, Leo knew immediately that she was a goddess, which one though?

"Greetings Leo Valdez, I am Nyx, Goddess of Night, mother of Thanatos and Hypnos."

Well that answered that question, still, Leo wanted to know more.

"Nyx? As in Stevie Nicks? Cause 'lemme tell you I thought you would look way different" Leo joked nervously, resorting to his automatic defense strategy, humor. However, the goddess of Night did not look nearly as amused as Leo hoped, quite the opposite in fact.

"You annoy me, I warn you, I am not as lenient as the other gods and goddesses, I am not fooled by this charade. As punishment for this insolence, I will skip the pleasantries and proceed to the torture."

"Oh shit." Was the last thing Leo thought before his world exploded into unimaginable pain."


	2. Chapter 2

" _Leo, what are you doing?" Piper cried, clutching at her wounded shoulder and looking at Leo with something akin to betrayal in her eyes._

 _Leo laughed, letting the flames in his hands travel up his arms, engulfing them fully. He tensed and released his shoulders muscles in quick succession, resulting in bursts of fire sporadically jumping off of his skin. It felt good, he had bottled up his fire for so long, the fear of hurting others always hindering him. But no more. The freedom was exhilarating, and Leo felt his grin widen, as he let his fire do what it wanted._

 _Piper and Jason were standing in front of them, Piper had a wounded shoulder and Jason had a bloody lip, and looked a bit dizzy. Both were looking at him as if they had never seen him before._

 _Leo cackled at the sight of his normally strong friends in such a pitiful state. A strange sense of pride coursed through his veins, filling him with adrenaline and encouragement. He was proud that he of all people was strong enough to take down two powerful demigods. Seeing their pained expressions filled him with a rush he had not felt since his days of running away from foster homes, and avoiding the police._

 _He shot a stream of flames directly at his two friends, and delighted in their horrified expressions, Piper screamed, Leo felt the scream resound in his bones._

" _Do you understand now young warrior?" A dreamy voice said._

Leo was startled out of the dream, sweat clung to his brow. He quickly did a self-assessment. He was still bleeding from hi head wound but his legs were fine. He was in some sort of cave, but he could somehow sense that this cave was very different from the first one he had been in.

"My apologies for waking you son of fire." The voice spoke again, sounding not at all apologetic.

Leo whipped his head around, and saw that the goddess Nyx was i the cave with him.

"I-" Leo started, "I don't understand."

Nyx smiled. "You will soon young hero. I will show you that you are strong. That your fire is strong. And then you will understand that you are fighting for the wrong side."

Leo's blood froze. Fighting… for the wrong side?

"Cut the crap, I know for a fact that I am fighting on the right side." Leo said angrily, his mouth finally catching up with his brain. He was still reeling from the shock of his dream. The things he did, and more importantly, the joy he felt when he did those things.

"You… you caused that dream?" Leo asked, needing proof that it wasn't his mind that conjured up that scenario. That it wasn't his mind that tortured his friends, and enjoyed doing so.

"I may have guided it along the path it needed to go, but I can assure you Mr. Valdez, that dream was of your own making. I just tend to bring out the worst of dreams. The dreams your mind tries to forget, because you could never handle the truth of how devious and horrible your mind can truly be. Your mind's innermost wants and desires are never quite what you expect."

Leo felt horrible. Hurting Piper and Jason, laughing while he did so. That couldn't be his innermost desire. Gaea had to be manipulating him.

Right?


End file.
